How about an afternoon stroll through the news summaries....I draw your attention to the last news summary regarding what the CBI can do with gold:

Popular movement: demonstrations across Iraq to demand the cancellation of Article 38 and the service jihadist

Demonstrations are scheduled to be held across Iraq on February 15, protesting Article 38 of the recently passed Retirement Law....if they prove to be successful...makes me wonder about doing the same here in the US.....

this is the Article that speaks to the generous pensions given to the three Presidents as well as to members of Parliament that were ordered by the Judicial Court last fall to not be included in any pension work........Read More Link On Right

this is planned to be a peaceful demonstration at this point....but we all know that things can get out of hand when large groups of people are congregated in multiple locations.....as a result Armed Forces will be on alert.House opens the door to a modified retirement and paragraphs law puts a condition The general director of the legal department of the House of Representatives has spoken....it is the right of every interested party to question the constitutionality of the Retirement Law in the Federal Court....this right is given in Article 93 of the Iraqi Constitution.... it also appears that Parliament can modify the Law because it has not been published in the Official Gazette at this point.....my guess here is that between now and February 15, someone will step up to the plate and save the day.U.S. Official: PDK and PUK to be removed from terrorist list soon DC will "soon" remove the two major Kurdish parties from the list of foreign terrorist organizations....so this will take a "legislative action" to take them from the list.....what happened to the pen and phone.....seems to work for everything else.... my prediction here....this will go into the "committees" that McGurk mentions and will quickly be forgotten......I mentioned before that the Muslim Brotherhood gets treated far better in the US..... .not even having to stand for TSA scrutiny as they go through our airports.....yet this is how we treat our "allies"....shaking my head.Presidency of the Kurdistan Region entitle Shaways to negotiate with Baghdad on oil export proposals So are they approaching a deal or not.....leaves one to wonder.....and just who is Shaways....anyway.....sure the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs...... sounds like an underling.....did the Kurdish delegation just decide to throw up their hands....or is Shaway the real "A Team" for them....I hope he doesn't need a week to "study" things.COMMISSION MAYSAN: DISTRIBUTION OF 550 000 VOTERS ELECTRONIC CARD So Maysan is saying they have distributed 500,000 voter e-cards to the citizens of Maysan.....an incredible number.....but it seems they have been working on it for a bit.....makes me wonder..... can I pick up cards for my 8 brothers 5 sisters, 13 uncles, and 47 neighbors? If that is a photo of the card....makes me wonder without a photo on the card....they could be sold on the black market.Iraq is seeking to invest in the ranks of global proportions (certain) Through its oil and refineries Iraq is looking to diversify their exports to include things other than oil.....they can do this through their refineries by making gasoline and diesel fuels for market, by making other petrochemical blends that they have been incapable of doing in the past.... these all provide a strong market base for the Iraqi's and offer diversification over just exporting oil that someone else would have to refine. They watch and see what Saudi Arabia does with all their oil and they want to emulate I believe..... to make these refineries viable, they must have consistent electrical power to them, or they must have the capacity to generate their own power.... thus the Ministry of Electricity must be brought into the picture.....they are encouraging Russian investors at this time, largely because they know where the Saudi's have gone for their investors and also the markets they have penetrated with their oil and refined products...... IMO....this is a huge step for Iraq going forward in improving their oil infrastructure with a proactive game plan in place.Iraq launches $95m snow sports resort in Kurdistan The Korek Mountain Resort in Kurdistan has spent $95 million dollars investing in making this location a "go to" winter wonderland. One doesn't think of snow in Iraq all that often....but this resort is wanting to change that image.Parliament session devoid of the budget discussion next Tuesday and a ministerial committee to resolve the crisis I shake my head at the ineffectiveness of the Iraqi Parliament.....that they can't even convene to attempt a first reading so that issues can truly be discussed....instead they whine and belly-ache about all the problems they foresee, nothing mentioned about the positive aspects of the budget.... they don't act like adults who supposedly are professionals at work. So Tuesday will roll right on by and the Budget will again not be on the agenda to be read. Instead three ministers....Planning, Finance, and Oil...it will be most interesting to see what they come up with to show Parliament.Iraq received the first batch of aircraft, "F-16" the second half of this year Get ready for some sonic booms....four F-16's will arrive in Iraq sometime after the middle of the year....the process of receiving the Apache heliocopters and other arms will also be sped up.A parliamentary committee calling for the State Department to move internationally for "exposing the state sponsors of terrorism." The Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives is calling on the Foreign Ministry to look internationally to expose state sponsors of terrorism....look for the source....something the US has been searching to find for years.High capital IDB It would appear that thanks to the help of Iraq, the Islamic Development Bank of Saudi Arabia has received AAA ratings from Moody's, Standard and Poor's, and Fitch rating services..... the IDB states that Iraq represents a great economic power....they go on to say that Iraq will play a prominent role in all international organizations..... .this begs me to ask...just how can they do this solely on the basis of their oil....especially on an international level.....currency would have to also come into play at some point.....currency that is not at a program rate..... also another observation.....I don't see Iraq handing over oil revenue to the IDB in Saudi Arabia to raise their own capital....to what purpose that would serve.... .there must be more than we can see that has the interest of the IDB......this article is back up to the announcement placed on the CBI Arabic website on 2/4/2014.Work: the adoption of smart card protection network for beneficiaries Smart cards are being provided to beneficiaries who left one job until they could find another.....sort of like welfare I would guess.....this system provides an electronic network that guards against duplication and fraud.Finance is working to spread awareness of insurance in the country The Ministry of Finance is attempting to raise the citizens awareness about health insurance available to them at what seems like a cost of 15,000 dinar.....they also speak of vehicle insurance, about multi-car discounts....sounds like Allstate has them in good hands.....but it mostly sounds like insurance for freight carriers, in that it depends on the value of the freight to determine the amount of insurance required.Intensive meetings to agree on a budget bill I'm finding this article a bit difficult to believe.....intensive meetings.....who has had those meetings....the Kurds....they threw their hands up and went home.....the Parliament.... all they have done is sit around and whine about what they perceive as issues with the budget.....there has been a proposed "committee" selected to review the budget (Planning, Finance and Oil) and bring something to the Parliament...but I do not believe they have met. This article also speaks of a first reading of the budget on Tuesday.....we have had several articles today that have pointed to no budget on the agenda for Tuesday.....because the committee above will be meeting......sorry I don't buy this article....prove me wrong....would love to see a reading on Tuesday.Aref al-Saadi looking at the language of the modern Iraqi currency This article is more of a book review of Iraqi currency, but does not seem to cover up to the current currency....what I would deem to be modern.....rather confusing at best.About the central bank's decision to sell gold dealers Pay very close attention to this article Family......it is written by Dr. Shabibi....who we all know very well.....in fact sit a little closer to the screen and see what he has to say.....the CBI handles gold cash.....which is held by all Central Banks..... the CBI does not handle gold trade which is gold handled by the market....the main reason a central bank would handle gold is to diversify cash reserves and to add confidence to those reserves.... .it is not the duty of the CBI to provide gold trade to the public....but they may be involved with gold coins......they can and apparently have sold gold commemorative coins in the past.... .but basically to use gold other than coins from the CBI as a means to save would be seen as gold "trade." Holding gold by the CBI provides stabilization of the monetary policy that is in place......it is not the purpose of the CBI to encourage savings...that does not fall within the scope of the work of the CBI..... the CBI has no reason to enter into this area.....the bottom line to all this is the CBI must not give the impression that they are equipped to enter into gold trade......Gold trade is left to ordinary commodity brokers or the Ministry of Finance......the monetary gold reserve currency is owned and managed by the CBI as a separate entity. That is the afternoon news folks Randy